TARDIS Bookstore
by StormWolf10
Summary: AU. Posted to see if there is any interest in the story. The TARDIS bookshop was often overlooked. However, nestled in between a fast food shop and a department store, it- somewhat ironically- stuck out like a sore thumb.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So, yeah, been writing this for a while, and was never going to put this up, but then I figured 'why not?' So here it is. If it gets a lot of interest, it will be continued, if not, it'll be left and or taken down…**

The TARDIS bookshop was often overlooked. However, nestled in between a fast food shop and a department store, it- somewhat ironically- stuck out like a sore thumb. Of course, the shop- or at least the building the shop was in- was far older than the rest of the shops that made up the busy London street, but now it looked out of place despite it always being there. This was thanks to the other shops going for a more modern shop front, some even going as far as to totally demolish the old Victorian buildings and replacing it with a sleek modern design. The door to the TARDIS wasn't particularly shabby, but nor was it the usual door for a shop. While the department store one side of it was all big glass windows for displays and large automatic doors, and the fast food shop had plenty of windows for its customers to look at, the TARDIS had only a mid-sized window in the wall and a window in its dark blue wooden door. Rose Tyler realised that she must have walked past this shop countless times, but had never payed it much attention. She figured that it was because, despite the sign above the door stating that it was indeed a bookshop, it looked like somebody's house. Today, however, she was to step foot inside this strange little shop. Taking a deep breath, Rose pushed the wooden door open and stepped into the bookshop. She was immediately taken aback by the sheer amount of space in this deceptively large store; it stretched back for ages, the walls covered with bookshelves and posters.

"Hello, can I help you?"

Rose jumped, spinning round to see a tall skinny man stood between her and the door. He was dressed in a brown pinstripe suit with battered white converses, and his brown hair was spiked up.

"Oh, umm, I'm Rose Tyler," Rose explained nervously. "I'm here for the job interview."

"Ah, Rose! I've been waiting for you! I'm the Doctor, I own the shop." the Doctor explained, grinning widely and holding out a hand for Rose to shake.

Rose shook his hand tentatively, rather confused.

"You call yourself 'Doctor'? What, are you a science doctor or something?" Rose asked, remembering that the sign above the door read. 'For all your sci-fi, travel, astronomy and astrology needs'.

The Doctor shook his head, still grinning widely.

"Nah, it was a nickname that kind of stuck." he replied, beginning to lead Rose through the shop. "So, you'll be mostly working behind the counter, and helping to restock the shelves and things."

"Wait, you're not going to interview me?" Rose asked, perplexed.

"You managed to find the shop, that's good enough for me!" the Doctor told her jokingly. "But seriously, I think you'll get on very well here."

"So..Umm…Who else works here?" Rose asked, gazing around the shop.

"Well, there's only me and Donna here full time at the moment, she does the paper work. I have two part time computer engineers named Mickey and Adam, they both do three days a week. Then there's Martha, she's studying to become a doctor- a medical one, that is- so she works here to raise some more money while she's at medical school. And finally there's my friend Jack. He's a bit of a flirt, and he usually just turns up when he feels like it, although he's always willing to come in and lend a hand if someone's off ill." The Doctor explained.

By now, they had reached the counter, which was at the back of the shop. Rose could see a door that seemed to lead through into a small office out the back. Off to the right of the counter were two computers- evidently for customers to look up books-, but the rest of the shop was full of books. Rose was beginning to wonder how her mother had even found that this strange little book shop had a job vacancy- after Rose had turned up at her mother's flat after her breakup with Jimmy that had left her £800 in debt, Jackie had given her a few days to recover before giving her the forms needed to apply for the job at the book shop and had her send them off.

"Donna?" the Doctor called suddenly.

A tall ginger woman came out of the back office, looking rather annoyed about being interrupted. Her expression quickly changed, however, when she saw Rose.

"Oh, hello," Donna said, evidently shocked, "you must be the new employee."

Rose nodded, smiling shyly.

"If you don't mind me asking, how old are you exactly?" Donna asked sceptically.

"Nineteen," Rose replied nervously.

"Have you worked in a shop before?" Donna asked.

Rose shook her head, and Donna glanced pointedly at the Doctor.

"It's alright though, Donna," the Doctor chipped in, "I'm gonna be training her up. I was just about to show her how to ring the items up."

Donna nodded, seemingly satisfied.

"Well, if you two are ok, I'm going to go finish off the paperwork." Donna told them, before heading back into the office.

As the Doctor and Rose made their way behind the counter, Rose finally asked the question she had been dying to ask since her mother had told her the name of the shop.

"So, why exactly is the shop called the 'TARDIS bookshop'?" Rose asked tentatively, unsure the Doctor would want her asking.

At that question, the Doctor smiled. It wasn't the same manic grin from earlier, it was more of an uncertain, embarrassed smile.

"Ah, well," he replied uncertainly "it's actually my initials."

Rose gaped for a few moments, before finally finding her voice again.

"Your _initials_?" she squeaked. "You have a long name!"

"Yeah," the Doctor admitted, clearly embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his neck "blame my parents for that. That's part of the reason I stuck to the nickname 'the Doctor'."

"So, what's your full name?" Rose asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

The Doctor sighed, but from his expression Rose knew he was going to tell her.

"My full name's Thomas Arthur Ryan Daniel Isaac Smith." the Doctor mumbled, blushing.

"Blimey! And to think I hated my Mum for calling me Rose Marion Tyler!" Rose laughed.

The Doctor was grinning again now, a smile that Rose had already become accustomed to in the few short minutes she had known him.

"Right," the Doctor announced suddenly, clapping his hands together, "what's your job experience like?"

Rose blushed and shrugged.

"Nothin'," she mumbled.

The Doctor didn't reply immediately, and Rose feared that he was having second thoughts about hiring her. It seemed stupid, but Rose suddenly couldn't imagine not seeing this man every day, and she knew she was being silly; she'd quite literally only known him ten minutes, but there was something about him that made her want to be with him constantly. She felt a jolt of fear run through her as she realised that this was what had happened with Jimmy; the sudden intense longing to be with this person every second of every day. But it was more than that. With Jimmy…Well, it had been _intense_, that was for sure, but this time it felt different, and she had no idea why.

"Well," the Doctor answered eventually, "no matter! It won't take me long to show you everything in anyway."

Rose grinned suddenly, relief sweeping through her. Gazing round the shop, Rose couldn't help but smirk.

"You know," she piped up, grinning slyly, "this shop pretty much looks like how I'd imagine your bedroom looked when you were a teenager."

The Doctor quirked an eyebrow at her, and looked around. Indeed, among the shelves of books, sci-fi film and TV posters were scattered on the walls. Some of them were old ones that _had_ been in his bedroom, while others had been bought for the sole purpose of being put up in the shop. Star Trek, Red Dwarf and Star Wars posters were the most prominent, although there were some lesser-known ones as well, such as an old 1969 film called 'Silence' and a 1963 TV programme called 'Skaro'.

"Well, some of these posters _were_ in my bedroom." the Doctor admitted, tugging on his ear.

Rose grinned, the tip of her tongue poking out between her teeth. The Doctor grinned back, and they stayed that way for several long moments.

"So, uh, what exactly will I be doing here?" Rose asked, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

"Well, you'll be behind the counter with me. Donna helps out as well, but she mostly prefers to just handle the stock and such. Martha works for two hours a day, from 3 till 5. As I said before, Jack just sort of turns up every now and then."

"D'you get a lot of customers, then?" Rose asked, brow furrowing as she remembered how often she'd easily overlooked the store.

"Mostly regulars," the Doctor explained, "several University professors use us for their astronomy textbooks, so we get students in here too sometimes, ordering their course books and such. Then there are the general sci-fi fans, they find it easier to find the books they want here rather than a big bookstore; we stock more despite having a small shop. Of course, we don't have as many comic books as other specialist stores, but the regulars don't mind that."

"And you still earn enough to pay, what, five now six members of staff?" Rose was shocked.

The Doctor blinked.

"Well, uh, like I said, Mickey, Adam and Martha are all part-time. The store makes a steady income, and we have a lot of collectors' editions of books, and comics and figurines, so that helps too. But with Donna managing the books, we… We make a small profit."

**~StormWolf10~**

After several attempts at using the till, and serving the only customer that came in for the day, Rose was a little uncertain about her job, but knew she'd take it, if only for the fact it got her out of her Mum's flat and the Doctor and Donna were really nice. Martha arrived for her two hours, and Rose soon ended up talking to her behind the counter.

"How does he afford it, though?" Rose asked quietly, confused as she watched the Doctor restock some shelves. "We've only had one customer today, I don't see how he can afford to take me on."

Martha shrugged.

"He doesn't pay Jack, he volunteers. Sometimes I'm not even entirely sure he pays himself." Martha admitted conspiratorially. "But we've never had to wait for our wages, he always pays on time, and it's always the full amount. The Doctor always just seems to just have money, all the time. Not sure how, but it's like money isn't that important to him. He's not rich, far from it, but he's never short of cash either."

Rose's brow furrowed at that.

"Where does he get the money from then? Inheritance?" Rose asked.

Martha shrugged again.

"He doesn't talk about his family. Not sure he has any family. I know he grew up on a country estate called Gallifrey, somewhere in the Peak District, but other than that, he doesn't mention them."

With a frown, Rose glanced back over at the Doctor. He was a mystery, she decided, and she was determined to get to the bottom of it.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Chapter 2! I really wasn't expecting such a big interest in this story, thanks so much! It was always just an idea that actually stemmed from a drawing I did at college, while I started trying to practice drawing perspectives. I ended up drawing a shop full of science fiction books and spoof Doctor Who posters, and that sort of thing, and then the story came. But I never thought people would be interested in it! So thanks again, guys! I still can't believe that I had 17 reviews in a day, and 9 favourites and 26 followers within 3 days. So this chapter is dedicated to all you wonderful people!**

Stepping inside her new place of work, Rose decided, was a little like Alice falling down the rabbit hole. Behind the grubby blue paint of the front door, behind the little white sign that stated the opening times, there was an entire cavern of books. Of course, they were all aimed at a specific audience, the geeks who came in for the graphic novels and limited edition Star Wars figures, and the University professors and their pupils who came in to collect Astronomy books. Rose Tyler fell into neither of those categories. And yet, she'd found herself hurrying to work, a huge smile on her face despite the bleak, grey skies and the businessmen pushing past her on the pavement. She'd worked at the TARDIS Bookstore for just over a week, had met each of her co-workers- although that Adam seemed a little overconfident, but he was sort of cute- except for the elusive Jack Harkness. Rose got on well with each of them, and she was greeted warmly as she stepped inside for another day's work.

"Rose! We were just talking about you!" the Doctor announced with a grin.

"You were?" Rose asked, smile faltering slightly.

"Yeah, you haven't met Jack yet, have you? He's gonna be working with us today, filling in for Adam, who's apparently sick." The Doctor explained, gesturing to the man sat lounging at the computer desks.

Rose looked over at Jack, blinking. Somehow, she'd not noticed the blue-eyed, dark-haired handsome man sat at the computers. Realising she was staring, Rose blushed slightly and gave him a shy smile.

"Hi," Jack grinned, tone flirtatious, "Jack Harkness. You must be Rose?"

Rose nodded mutely, idly noting that the man had an American accent.

"Jack," the Doctor cut in warningly, glaring at his friend.

Jack merely smirked and shrugged, while the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"I don't mind," Rose managed, quietly aware of the dopey grin on her face, "he was just saying hello."

"And that, Rose, is how he gets you." The Doctor sighed, shaking his head. "Met Jack at college. In the two years he was there, he slept with every girl in our year group as well as some of the teachers."

Rose blinked, and looked over at Jack, who was still grinning cockily. Before Rose could fully process what she'd just been told, the Doctor was rubbing his hands together, talking.

"Right," he announced, flashing Rose a grin, "Donna's running a little late- had to catch the bus, she's currently sharing her Mother's car and her Mum needed it today- so we might as well open up without her."

**~StormWolf10~**

An hour later, Rose was sat on the little stool behind the counter, watching the Doctor with her head on her hands. He was replacing older posters with the new ones that had just been delivered, explaining that they changed the posters around occasionally but never threw any out. Donna had arrived just fifteen minutes after they'd opened, muttering and cursing about the awful public transport in London. She'd since disappeared into the back room while Jack restocked shelves and the Doctor disappeared into the storage room that Rose had discovered was beneath the office, accessible only by an awkward trapdoor. There was also a staircase in the office, tucked away by the small toilet, a stud wall shielding it from the rest of the office. The shop was deceptively large, particularly given its small interior, and Rose didn't even know where the staircase led. She was suddenly startled out of her thoughts when a mug of tea was settled in front of her. Rose looked up in shock to see Donna pulling up another seat beside her, smiling.

"No customers yet?" Donna asked, taking a seat.

"None." Rose sighed, picking up her tea and taking a sip. "I don't know how he keeps the business afloat."

Donna sighed.

"Well, as the secretary slash bookkeeper slash accountant slash Doctor-minder, I can tell you that he isn't."

"Isn't what?" Rose sighed.

"Keeping the business afloat." Donna replied, eyes fixed on the Doctor, who was still taking down posters and replacing them with new ones.

"He told me that the shop had a steady income, when he employed me." Rose remembered.

Donna snorted softly, taking a sip of her rapidly cooling tea.

"Rule one, Rose," Donna told the young girl calmly, "the Doctor lies."

"But… But he hired me." Rose pointed out, lowering her voice so the Doctor wouldn't hear. Her brow was furrowed in confusion "And he employs Martha. Why does he keep me and Martha on if he can't afford us?"

"Because he's the Doctor," Donna replied, voice soft as she watched the Doctor with a small smile, "and Doctors help people. He took Martha on because she needed money to get herself through medical school; she's the oldest of three, her parents couldn't give her money without giving her brother and sister the same, and it just wasn't affordable. He took you on because when your Mother came in, she explained about your… breakup, that you had £800 of debt and just really needed money. He took Adam on because he's clever, but he has no common sense; he was thrown out of University, almost shipped over to America to be imprisoned after he hacked their government database as a joke. Mickey is really good at computers too, but lacked self-confidence, was stuck in a dead-end job as a mechanic and he hated it. And he took me on because my Granddad, he sort of took the Doctor in after his family… When he was alone. So when the Doctor bought this place, he employed me. All my other jobs had been temp places, always secretaries, agency work, that sort of thing. But he employed us all because he saw that we needed money, that we needed to gain confidence in ourselves, or keep out of trouble, or support ourselves while we work towards our dream job. And the Doctor… Thomas can't stand by while people need help and just not do anything. That isn't who he is."

Rose looked over at the Doctor, who was stretched to his full height as he attempted to pin up a new poster. Jack was meant to be helping, but appeared to just be watching as the Doctor- sans jacket, his shirtsleeves rolled up to above his elbows- strained to get the poster in place.

"But… The cost!" Rose managed, still reeling from what Donna had just revealed as she looked back at her.

"Like I said, the business isn't making money. But only the Doctor and I know. And now you. And possibly Jack, because the Doctor and Jack have been best friends since they met at college nineteen years ago. But Martha and Mickey and Adam don't know. And that's the way the Doctor wants to keep it. But… I think he's been paying us with his own money. He has a bit, money left to him by relatives, and from the sale of part of the land his family's estate was on, and I think he's been using it to pay wages. He.. He actually owns the shop, physically owns the land it stands on." Donna trailed off, snorting softly at that. "Can't say that about most shops in London."

Rose shook her head mutely, watching the Doctor and Jack again, who were up near the door of the shop, laughing as the poster the Doctor finally managed to stick up flopped pathetically to the floor again.

"No," Rose agreed quietly, "you can't."

And then, their conversation was interrupted as the Doctor bounded over, exclaiming about sending Jack out to buy lunch.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Looooooooooooooong chapter for you here! Hope you enjoy it, I'm trying hard to get all the characters in one place for a whole chapter, but it's proving more difficult than expected. But basically, this chapter sort of sets up an excuse for us to learn more about the Doctor's past. Let me know if you think this is going too fast…**

Donna smiled somewhat tiredly as Mickey placed a mug of coffee in front of her.

"Storm keep you up all night too?" Mickey asked the ginger woman sympathetically.

Donna nodded, stifling a yawn.

"I was hoping it would have stopped by today." She responded. "I'm just glad I could use Mum's car to get here."

Mickey hummed in agreement and settled himself down on one of the stools in front of the computer. There were parts of the hard drive scattered across the desk as Mickey had been working to fix one of the broken computers.

"We're not going to be getting many customers today, are we?" Mickey asked suddenly as he frowned at the computer components in front of him.

"Oh, don't be like that, Mickey!" the Doctor called out as he hauled himself up out of the trapdoor of the storage room. "I'm sure once the rain dies down we'll get some customers in!"

"Whatever you say, boss." Mickey muttered, putting his mug down as he reached for a screwdriver.

The trio descended into a silence that was only interrupted when the door to the shop opened. The rain was lashing down outside, thunder and lightning and wind, the worst daytime storm the Doctor, Donna and Mickey could ever remember happening. The door was quickly shut again as Rose all but stumbled through, tugging awkwardly at her coat. Her blonde hair was plastered to her face, soaking wet, and she gave them a weak smile.

"Hey, sorry I'm late."

**~StormWolf10~**

Once they'd gotten over the initial shock of seeing Rose, sopping wet and standing in the middle of the shop, the group had snapped into action. Donna had immediately begun fussing around her, helping her out of her coat as Mickey hurried off to make a mug of coffee for her. The Doctor however, just gaped. He was only brought out of his daze when Donna slapped him on his arm.

"Hey!" he complained, rubbing his arm. "What was that for?"

"I just said, go find Rose some clean clothes! And a towel while you're at it, she's already starting to shiver!" Donna repeated angrily.

"I'm fine." Rose insisted, although she was already shivering from the way her clothes were plastered to her skin, heavy with water.

Donna ignored her, however, and turned to glare at the Doctor again.

"Now go on," Donna told him, pushing him towards the office, "you must have towels up in that flat of yours, and you must have something Rose can wear just while her clothes dry out."

"Your flat?" Rose echoed, brow furrowing and teeth chattering.

"Donna, I don't-" the Doctor began, brow furrowing.

"I know, I know, you don't let people in your flat!" Donna tutted impatiently. "But seriously? You can't expect Rose to stay for her shift in wet clothes! You can't expect her to stay for her shift at all- Martha's already phoned in to say she won't make it in this afternoon, and we're lucky if we get even one customer in this weather!"

With a sigh, the Doctor relented, holding his hand out to Rose. While Donna looked satisfied, the Doctor's face was a blank mask as he led Rose through the office to the staircase. He ascended the stairs two at a time, his long legs carrying him easily up in bounds. Rose hurried after him, before slamming into the Doctor's back as he stopped abruptly.

"Sorry." she managed as he glanced over his shoulder to look at her.

The Doctor gave a small smile and unlocked the door that had caused him to stop. Like the shop door, it was dark blue in colour, only this one didn't have a window in it. There was a letterbox, though, which Rose found a little odd.

"Why do you have a letterbox?" she asked in confusion. "The postman drops the mail in to the shop, but there's no way for him to deliver the mail to your door."

"My mail gets brought into the shop. Most of the time, I'm in the shop anyway when it arrives. But if I'm out for some reason, Donna pushes it through the letterbox for me." The Doctor replied as he pushed the door open.

He stepped into the flat, leaving Rose to follow behind him. When she entered the flat, she wasn't sure whether she was surprised or not that the flat appeared to just be an extension of the bookstore downstairs; there were posters on the walls, framed unlike the ones in the store, newer and more spread out.

"Sorry it's a bit of a mess," the Doctor apologised, grimacing as he hurried round to pick up dirty mugs, DVDs and books, "but I don't tend to have many visitors. Well, apart from Jack. And Donna's Granddad, occasionally. Prefer to… be alone."

Rose nodded, looking around the flat. They were stood in an open plan living room and kitchen, which Rose guessed spanned the downstairs study and half the shop. Looking to her right, Rose spotted two doors that she presumed led to a bedroom and bathroom at the front of the flat.

"Nice place." She said awkwardly after a few moments.

The Doctor shot her a weak smile before remembering the reason they were in his flat anyway.

"I'll just, uh, grab you a towel, then I'll find you some clothes." The Doctor said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Rose nodded and watched as the Doctor headed towards one of the doors, returning a few moments later with a towel. He tossed it to her, and Rose caught it quickly before the Doctor headed into his bedroom. He didn't shut the door completely, and she could hear him rooting around in drawers, muttering under his breath.

"You know," Rose piped up nervously, "I might be alright if I just dry my clothes off slightly. No need for you to turn your flat upside down trying to find clothes for me."

"Donna will have my head if I agree to that." The Doctor responded, reappearing in the doorway with some clothes.

Rose smiled weakly, crossing the expanse of floor.

"Is… Is it alright if I change in your room?" she asked, a blush creeping up her cheeks even as she spoke.

The Doctor, cheeks also flooding with colour, nodded, running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, yeah, that'll be fine. I'll just.. Uh… Be here."

Rose ducked past him into the room, shutting the door firmly behind her. Feeling a little rude but unable to help herself, Rose took a look around the Doctor's room. She'd worked for the man for little over a week, and knew so much about Donna, and Martha, and Adam, and Mickey, and even Jack, but she still knew very little about her employer. His bedroom was devoid of photos, the walls a plain white only punctuated by the blue duvet and curtains. Only one picture hung on the wall, opposite the bed, a framed poster stating 'Manhattan Transfer', with the image of the Statue of Liberty as well as- presumably- the two main characters, a man with carefully styled, dark blonde hair, and a woman with long ginger hair, their expressions frozen in terror. The thick black lettering beneath the movie title read 'The last place this couple expected to end up on their holiday was 1938'. Yet another sci-fi movie poster, Rose supposed. Grimacing at the way her clothes clung to her, she began to get changed. Her hooded sweatshirt and t-shirt came off first, and Rose pulled a face when she realised that even her underwear was wet. But there was nothing the Doctor could do about that, so Rose wiped herself down with the towel he'd provided, towelling the ends of her hair too, before slipping on the t-shirt the Doctor had left out. She pushed aside the slight awkward feeling she got when she realised that the t-shirt wasn't actually that much too big for her- she quickly reminded herself about how skinny the Doctor was, and tried not to take it too hard- and instead smiled slightly when she saw that he'd supplied her with a slightly-faded Star Wars t-shirt. Her jeans were a little more difficult to get off, and Rose grimaced as she tugged the heavy fabric from her body. Her legs felt freezing cold, and even rubbing them with the towel didn't help very much. So she quickly pulled on the grey jersey jogging bottoms, giggling slightly at how they were so long she couldn't even see her toes peeking out the bottom. The Doctor had left a hoodie out too, a zip-up one, navy blue and plain. Rose hesitated for a few moments before pulling it on and leaving the room.

**~StormWolf10~**

Hours later, it's nearing closing time and the shop hadn't had a single customer all day. The storm was persistent, rain still pouring down, and even the Doctor's chipper mood was dampened. Mickey had risked a trip back to his flat to grab some more stuff to repair the computer, but had had to stay at home after PCSOs came down his road and told everyone to stay indoors; the drains had blocked and streets had begun flooding. Donna, the Doctor and Rose were all still at the shop, growing more and more bored as time dragged on.

"There's no way we'll be able to get home." Donna sighed, arms folded as she peered out the shop window and into the darkening street.

"Why not?" Rose asked, wide-eyed.

"The streets are flooded." Donna replied, turning away from the window. "It's still raining and it's like a bloody ghost town out there. Not a person in sight."

"So we're not getting home tonight?" Rose asked, causing the Doctor to look up from the books he'd been reorganising on the shelves to stave off boredom.

Donna shook her head, and Rose's shoulders slumped.

"No, doesn't look like it. We'll have to stay here."

"H- Here?" the Doctor spluttered, wide-eyed.

"Well, yeah," Donna sighed, hands on her hips as she raised an eyebrow at her friend, "we can't go out in that. Even if I dropped Rose home, we'd get soaked just getting to and from the car. And then there's the whole matter of driving in torrential rain."

The Doctor's mouth opened. Then closed. Then opened again.

"R- Right." He managed after a few moments "So you're staying here?"

"Yes." Donna responded.

"Both of you?" he asked.

"Yes." Donna repeated, a little more irritated.

"All night?"

"Yes!" Donna snapped.

"Oh." The Doctor murmured. "I'll, uh, go find some sleeping bags."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Started writing this chapter and then began watching my Broadchurch DVD. Got distracted, and this chapter took hours longer than it should have… Anywho, here it is. Chapter 4. **

The Doctor sighed, sitting up on the sofa. The rain was still hammering down outside and he yawned, pulling his sleeping bag a little closer. Despite not having guests often, the Doctor had been raised to be a gentleman, and he'd given Donna and Rose his bed. They hadn't minded sharing and, if he were quite honest, the Doctor had thought Donna would slap him if he had let them take the sofa. Rose had phoned her Mother, and Donna had phoned her Mum and Granddad, so there were no anxious parents waiting up into the small hours of the morning worrying about their children. The Doctor almost smiled at the thought. He'd never had that sort of thing, not really. Not since his Mum had died when he was seven. Then, he heard the tell-tale signs of the box springs on his bed creaking, and he peered through the gloom to his bedroom door. Silence again. Shaking his head, he reached for the TV remote. He wasn't going to get any sleep, what with the thunder and lightning outside, so he might as well watch some TV.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Donna?"

Donna groaned as the voice penetrated her sleepy mind.

"Donna?"

Again, Donna groaned, being dragged unwillingly back towards wakefulness. Then, there was silence. This, rather than comforting Donna and lulling her back into sleep, caused her brow to furrow in confusion. The mattress shifted and Donna scrunched up her nose, eyes blinking open. It took a few moments to adjust to the gloom, then the unrecognisable location. As her still-sleep-deprived mind decided that she was in the Doctor's bedroom, and Rose was sat in the bed beside her, Donna struggled into a more upright position.

"Rose?" Donna yawned. "What's going on?"

"I… I didn't meant to wake you!" Rose stuttered, sounding tired. "But… I couldn't sleep."

Donna sighed and glanced over at the alarm clock. The blinking red digits spelled out the time as 2:21.

"Anything wrong?" Donna asked Rose, peering back over at her through the dark.

She could just make out Rose shaking her head.

"No, just can't sleep. 'Cause of the rain," Rose replied.

Donna opened her mouth to speak, and then froze.

"Can I hear the TV?" Donna asked, brow furrowing again.

Rose blinked, listening hard. She then slowly nodded.

"The Doctor?" Rose asked quietly, although it was obvious that it was the Doctor, seeing as it was just the three of them in the flat.

"Why's he up at this time?" Donna murmured, frowning.

"Well, we are," Rose pointed out.

And then, the young blonde woman was slipping out of the bed, bare feet padding across the floor as she tugged at the t-shirt she was wearing before almost tripping over the blue plaid pyjama bottoms she had on. The Doctor had- somewhat awkwardly- handed Rose another of his t-shirts and a pair of cotton pyjama bottoms to sleep in, as her clothes were still damp. This time, it was a comic-book themed t-shirt, a dark green tee with a deliberately aged picture of the Hulk. Donna was just in her long-sleeved top and a pair of borrowed pyjama bottoms, having refused the Doctor's offer of a t-shirt to sleep in. She peered through the crack of the door, but was just met with gloom and the faint light of the TV out of her line of sight. There was a loud sigh, and Donna suddenly appeared beside Rose, nudging her out the way and reaching for the door handle.

"What are you doing?!" Rose hissed as Donna reached for the door.

"I wanna see what the hell he's playin' at!" Donna hissed back. "If he's still awake, why? And if he's not, I'm gonna turn the TV off. It's annoyin'!"

Then, before Rose could protest any more, Donna was opening the door, carefully so as not to wake the Doctor if he was awake. The living room and kitchen were gloomy, the only lights coming from the TV and a freestanding lamp. The Doctor was sat up on the sofa, long legs tangled in his sleeping bag, a pair of narrow, dark glasses slipping down his nose. His hair was askew and the grey t-shirt he was wearing was rumpled. His gaze was fixed on the TV, and it wasn't until Donna cleared her throat purposefully that he realised his two guests weren't asleep.

"Donna! Rose! Why… Why are you awake?" he asked, wide-eyed.

"Couldn't sleep," Rose admitted quietly. "What with the storm."

"Yeah, and that TV ain't helping either!" Donna groused, eyes narrowing at her friend.

The Doctor blinked owlishly from behind his glasses, seeming to freeze for several long moments before finding his voice.

"Right," he said eventually. "Right. Sorry about that. I… I'll turn it down."

And then he was reaching for the remote.

"Why are you still up anyway?" Rose asked, watching as the Doctor turned the TV volume down.

"Same reason as you," the Doctor shrugged, back to watching the TV. "The storm."

The trio fell into an uncomfortable silence, and there was a pause of several long moments, before Donna huffed and made her way over to the sofa, nudging the Doctor up.

"Come on then, skinny boy. Budge up."

"Donna… What are you doing?" the Doctor asked slowly, although Rose noted with a smirk that he moved up regardless.

"Well, look, none of us can sleep, so we might as well watch whatever weird sci-fi film you've got on tonight."

Mouth opening and closing like a fish, the Doctor was unable to form a response. He was finally snapped out of it by Rose's giggling, and noticed that his newest employee- and, if he were truthfully honest, because that's how things worked at the TARDIS Bookstore, newest friend- was still stood awkwardly in the middle of his living room. Donna noticed too, and she moved up, leaving a small gap on the Doctor's narrow sofa for Rose. The girl looked a little unsure, but soon gave in and wedged herself between the Doctor and Donna.

"So, what are we watching?" Donna asked, frowning at the dodgy, wobbly set of the 1960's sci-fi movie on the screen in front of her.

Within a minute of the Doctor beginning this explanation of the film they were watching, Donna was asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry this took so long to get up. My Dad got married on Saturday, and now I've got my older sister and ten year old niece staying with me for the week, so there's a lot of CBBC shows being watched.. (help!)**

_Burning. Everywhere was burning. He shook his head, vaguely aware of tears streaming down his cheeks… He could hear his brother yelling for him to help, calling his name. He could hear his half-sister's screams. His Dad and his Uncles were hammering at the doors, yelling and shouting, but all he could do was stand and watch, paralysed with fear. He, Thomas Arthur Ryan Daniel Isaac Smith, was the only one who could help them, save his family. And yet he did nothing. Part of him was yelling, screaming for him to move, to run and get help, to call the fire brigade, the police, an ambulance. Anything. Just get help. But he didn't budge. He could feel the heat of the flames, licking at his skin, growing closer, growing warmer, reaching out to tug him into its grasp…_

The Doctor gasped, jerking awake.

"Doctor?"

The Doctor blinked, trying to gather himself. It was just a nightmare, he assured himself silently, just a nightmare. No. Not a nightmare, he decided bitterly. A memory.

"Thomas?"

This time, the Doctor did look over, suddenly realising he'd been asleep on his sofa. Donna was watching him, concern evident in her tired features; a sleepy but worried Rose in between them.

"S- Sorry about that," he managed, voice a little shaky although he forced a smile. "Nightmare."

Donna merely raised an eyebrow.

"Must've been some nightmare." Rose murmured, yawning.

"Same nightmare as usual?" Donna asked.

The Doctor sniffed and didn't meet her gaze, instead glancing at the clock. 7:03. Then, tugging the sleeping bag away from where it had tangled in his legs, he got to his feet. Plastering on a grin, the Doctor clapped his hands together.

"Well, who's for a cuppa? I've got tea, coffee, I think I might have some orange juice…"

"Coffee please," Rose told him with a small smile, "white with one sugar."

The Doctor nodded, making his way over to the kitchen.

"And for you, Donna?" he asked, still not meeting his friend's gaze.

But he didn't need to look at the fiery-haired woman to know that she was still glaring suspiciously at him. Donna knew all about his nightmares. The Doctor had lived with her Granddad Wilf while he was at college, the kindly old man had taken him in and gave him his spare room. The nightmare was always the same, always of the night his family home, the Gallifrey Estate had burned. The grass had burned red that night, the sky orange from the flames… Taking a deep breath and shaking himself, the Doctor set about making drinks for everyone.

**~StormWolf10~**

Rose frowned, watching as the Doctor bustled around the shop. The rain was finally easing off, and she was back in her own clothes, which had finally dried out. She'd grabbed a quick shower in the Doctor's flat, having to use his body wash, and she just hoped Jack didn't notice and start making lewd comments about it. She'd yet to have chance to talk to Donna about that morning, when the Doctor had woken up startled and almost in tears. Rose wasn't daft. She had her own share of horrid dreams, of nightmares from living with Jimmy Stone. She knew they could be terrifying. But there was something about the Doctor, about how concerned Donna had been for him, how distraught he'd looked, that made Rose almost certain that his nightmares were worse than hers. She worried about him even more when he'd brushed her off with a too-cheery smile and began making bacon sandwiches. He'd gotten over the nightmare so quick that it had to be an act. However, when she finally asked Donna about it while Jack and the Doctor were manning the shop and the two women were in the office, Donna merely shook her head.

"That's his story to tell, Rose." Donna told the girl with a sigh.

"Whose story to tell?" Adam asked, popping up from behind the desk, some wires clutched in one hand and a screwdriver in the other. "The Doctor's?"

Donna sighed, turning to look at the young man with her hands on her hips.

"None of your business, Adam," she told him coolly. "Have you fixed that computer yet? I've got to place some more orders with the wholesaler."

"I'm doing it, I'm doing it." Adam muttered, disappearing beneath the desk again.

Donna shook her head, muttering under her breath.

"Anyway," she continued, turning her back on Adam, "like I said, it's up to the Doctor to tell you. I only know because my Granddad took him in. I… He doesn't like to talk about the nightmares, the flashbacks. It would do him the world of good, but whenever I try to bring it up, he closes in on himself, starts going on about old sci-fi movies and stuff."

Rose frowned at that. She was going to get to the bottom of the Doctor's nightmares. He needed to talk.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: *Breezes in* Hello lovely readers! Here it is, chapter 6. I spent a long time trying to work out the best way for the Doctor to reveal all to his new co-worker, and I worried it was too soon in the story. But as I wrote this chapter, it began lending itself to a very useful way to have the Doctor spill his feelings. Here goes nothing…**

In the three months Rose Tyler had been working at the TARDIS bookstore, she had never seen it so packed. The bookstore thrummed with activity, and for once, was almost full. The summer holidays were nearly over, meaning that Astronomy students from the nearby University were coming in to collect their very-much-needed new textbook. And so, the students were bustling around the store, looking at other books and figurines and collectibles as Donna and Martha manned the till, selling whatever copies of the book they had. The Doctor had been antsy all day, tense and strained. He was dragging more copies of the books out of the storage room as fast as he could, with Adam's help, although the younger man was grumbling as he did so.

"Rose?"

Rose blinked at the sound of her name, and looked over to see Adam in the doorway of the office, panting slightly from the exertion of lifting several heavy boxes up a ladder.

"Can you take this over to Donna?" he asked, grimacing as he turned back to help the Doctor close the hatch.

Rose nodded, hopping off the stool she'd been sat on, and dragged the heavy cardboard box over to the counter.

"Oh, about time!" Donna groused as she saw the box filled with books. "Lord knows why the Doctor decided to store the textbooks at the back of the storage room."

Martha shook her head, sighing as she unloaded several of the books onto the counter, where students were waiting with cash in hand.

"Because he stocked them at the front, and then no one needed them, so they gradually got pushed backwards!" Martha pointed out.

"What got gradually pushed backwards?"

The three women turned to see the Doctor stood in the doorway to the office, a frown on his face. His normally-styled hair was messy in a not-so-deliberate way, his skin lightly tanned. As the summer had progressed, it had become warmer and warmer, and even the Doctor had succumbed to the heat, dressing in looser clothes. Rose still thought he looked odd without his pinstriped suit on, his legs looking long and thin as they poked out of a pair of denim shorts. He still wore his Converses, of course, but had swapped his shirt and tie for some of the comic-book and sci-fi t-shirts he'd leant Rose that time she'd been caught in the storm. Today, he was wearing a Batman t-shirt, and for once, seemed to fit in with the bookstore. Martha had confided to Rose just after arriving for her shift that she'd never seen the Doctor wear so many t-shirts or shorts before, and she'd worked at the store for almost two years. Donna had rolled her eyes and said he'd always worn superhero t-shirts at college.

"We were just saying," Donna told him, beginning to serve the next customer, "that we might need to re-jig the storage room. All the Astronomy textbooks have been pushed to the back, we might need to bring them forward again."

The Doctor sniffed and nodded.

"I'll do that tomorrow, when Mickey's here," he responded. "He can give me a hand. Adam's complaining that I've worked him too hard in this heat."

Donna sighed audibly, while Martha rolled her eyes. In the months since Rose had begun to work at the TARDIS bookstore, she had quickly established that Adam loathed any manual work. Yes, he was great at fixing the computers, but he hated helping move stock around, or pretty much anything that didn't involve him sitting down. Thankfully, however, he'd been offered a job up in Scotland, and would be leaving in a few days. It was his final day at the bookshop, and Rose was secretly pleased.

"Right," the Doctor announced, clapping his hands together and jerking Rose from her thoughts. "Let's get these books handed out."

**~StormWolf10~**

Once they'd finally served all the students, it was almost time to close for the day. Adam had mysteriously sloped off early, leaving a note telling them that he 'didn't want a fuss'. Donna had scoffed at that, and the Doctor had shrugged, announcing that they could split the vouchers they'd gotten him between themselves, to be used at a nearby electronics store.

"I really need to see about getting air conditioning put in," the Doctor sighed, spinning slightly on the one chair in the office.

"Yeah," Donna scoffed, "and where are you going to get the money for that?"

The Doctor blinked, staring at her for a long moment. Then, he replied.

"Well, I'm sure I can find the money."

Donna looked unimpressed, and just shook her head.

"Anyway, I'd better be going now." Martha announced from where she was leant against the doorframe.

"Yep, I'll see you guys tomorrow. Jack's coming to help us," the Doctor announced, waving cheerily as Martha and Rose headed towards the shop door.

Donna didn't move.

"Aren't you coming to Granddad's tonight?" she asked with a small frown.

"Nah, I'm fine. I've got food in the fridge," The Doctor shook his head.

"But you promised Gramps! He's got me and Mum going round too, and I'm not explaining why you're not there!" Donna told him, hands on hips.

"I'll phone him," the Doctor responded.

"He's just trying to help, _Thomas_," Donna told him, making a point of using his real name. "He knew today would be hard for you, we all did. He just wanted to make sure you wouldn't be alone."

"Well maybe I want to be alone!" the Doctor snapped suddenly, glaring at Donna. "Has that ever occurred to you? Yes, I am grateful that your Granddad took me in, that he let me stay with him. That you were willing to help me set up a business, that you came to work for me to get me on my feet. But _please_, Donna, just let me live my life! I _need_ to be alone tonight."

Donna's eyes went hard, and she glared at the Doctor before spinning on her heels and storming out. He heard the front door of the shop slam behind her, and he shut his eyes. He felt guilty, he shouldn't have yelled. Donna's family had been so lovely to him, helped him through the rough patch of his life he'd rather forget. But he needed to be on his own tonight. He knew Wilf and Donna were worried about his nightmares, but he couldn't handle being around people. Not tonight. It had been nineteen years since he'd watched his childhood home burn, nineteen years since he'd lost all his family. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, the Doctor leant forward in the chair, head going to his hands as the memories began to assault his mind and tears began to fall. Soon, his whole body was being racked with sobs, shaking and shuddering. And then the floorboard creaked. The Doctor sat bolt-upright, face tear-stained. His red, swollen eyes met warm brown ones, and he gaped.

"S- Sorry," Rose stuttered, wide-eyed in the office doorway. "I forgot my bag."

She pointed meekly to the hooks on the wall where, sure enough, Rose's bag was hanging. The Doctor nodded mutely, and Rose crossed the room, pulling it off the hook before glancing at the Doctor and beginning to leave again, wide-eyed. And then, for reasons the Doctor didn't quite know, he spoke.

"Stay."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: In which the Doctor and Rose finally spill the beans about their respective pasts. The Jimmy Stone timeline is, obviously, not accurate, as this is an AU.**

Rose settled herself awkwardly on the Doctor's sofa. She was in his flat again, politely listening as the Doctor rambled on about some new kids' sci-fi show that he'd seen an advert for.

"They're calling it 'Nick of Time'. How cool is that? I'd have loved to watch that as a kid!" he continued, a grin fixed on his face as he went about making mugs of tea.

His eyes were still red and swollen from crying, and Rose still didn't know what he'd been crying about, but he seemed determined to pretend it hadn't happened.

"Doctor?" Rose began cautiously as he brought the mugs of tea over.

"I hope he has a sidekick though," the Doctor continued, flopping onto the sofa, "it's probably no fun travelling through time without a sidekick."

"Doctor…" Rose tried again.

"Every time traveller needs a companion! Makes it so much more fun! A time traveller without a companion is… Is like Marty McFly without Doc, like the Red Dwarf team without Cat, like Han Solo without Chewbacca, like Kirk without Spock, Piccard without Riker…"

"Thomas!"

The Doctor froze. Rose had never called him by his real name before. No one called him Thomas, except for Wilf, occasionally. Not even Jack. Donna did occasionally, but even then it was only when she was really concerned or really annoyed about him. He met her gaze, seeing how worried she was.

"You… You were crying." Rose continued, becoming shy again, unsure whether she was stepping over the line by bringing up the seemingly-taboo subject to her- to all intents and purposes- boss.

The Doctor sniffed and sank back into the sofa, refusing to meet her gaze.

"Doctor, I get that it might be somethin' hard for you to talk about, I really do." Rose started again. "But… But it's not good for you to keep it inside. I… I could call Jack, if you want. Or call Donna, but she seemed to leave in quite a hurry. What I'm saying is, I get that it might be hard for you to talk about, to me. You still hardly know me. But… You're not the only one with a dark past."

The Doctor's head shot up at that, a quizzical look on his face.

"I mean, you know about my boyfriend Jimmy, that he left me with £800 of debt." Rose continued hurriedly, a slightly fearful look in her eyes even though she pressed on. "But… But it was more than that."

"Rose," the Doctor broke in carefully, voice soft, "you really don't have to tell me this."

"But I do." Rose responded, meeting his gaze calmly. "'Cause you're keepin' stuff inside, and that's not good. So… If I share my nightmares, will you share yours?"

"I don't-" the Doctor began, only to be cut off by Rose again.

"I know you have nightmares, I slept here that night, remember? And from the way Donna reacted, I know it's not the first time. Recurring dream?"

The Doctor swallowed, and reluctantly nodded.

"Right," Rose continued, "well I have recurring dreams too. Not every night, but still… 'S always the same."

She trailed off, snorting at that.

"I suppose that's the point of recurring dreams, isn't it?" Rose murmured with a small smile, before shaking herself. "Anyway, like I said, it's not every night. But it's enough nights. Always those few times… Always…"

Rose stopped. Took a deep breath. Met the Doctor's gaze. Began speaking.

"'Cause that's the thing." She told him softly. "They're not just dreams. They're… They're memories. Always relivin' them, always the same memories…"

The Doctor nodded in understanding and agreement. He understood what Rose was talking about all too well.

"Jimmy, he was… He was twenty years old," Rose explained with a small smile as she gazed at a spot across the room, "I met him a few years back at a party. We saw each other occasionally, it turned out that the band he played in was the cousin of a friend of my friend, and we somehow kept meeting. Anyway, finally, when I was eighteen, he asked me out. I said yes, and the next thing I knew, he was asking me to move in with him. I said yeah, thinking it would be great; get out of Mum's flat, start living my own life. We got engaged, and most of the time it was good, he was rehearsing with his band, he had a job in a supermarket during the day. It was all going well. And then, then he went out to a party one night, came back drunk. I'd been in the flat all night, but he was convinced he'd seen me at this pub, flirtin' with someone. It wasn't me, must've been someone who just looked like me. I tried to explain, but… He wouldn't listen. I woke up the next morning face-down on the sitting room carpet with a black eye and sprained wrist."

The Doctor winced at that. Rose, however, continued, seemingly oblivious to his reaction.

"An' then he apologised. Said that he was blind drunk, that he was so sorry, that he never meant to hurt me. An' I believed him. But then… Then it happened more times, with worse bruising, I couldn't cover it up with makeup. He never broke any bones, but he came close once or twice. By the time I found out he'd been cheating on me and he took off to Amsterdam, I was already planning to get away. Thankfully, he hadn't hurt me in a while; too busy with his new girlfriend, I think. But I dread to think what would have happened if I'd gone home to Mum covered in bruises. She knows what happened to me, of course, she found out after the nightmares started. She was quite hysterical actually, but there wasn't much she could do. So she just… Held me. Through the dreams, she just held me. Always the same dream, always Jimmy hittin' me… Punchin' me…" Rose finally trailed off, brow slightly furrowed and voice soft.

The Doctor had listened in silence, brow furrowing further and further as the story continued. Rose was still so young, he realised, not even out of her teens, and yet she had been through so much. She'd only gotten away from Jimmy a fortnight or so before she'd started working at the TARDIS bookstore, she'd been having nightmares all that time. It was then that the Doctor realised she was watching him. He blinked, confused.

"Well?" Rose prompted, tone soft.

"Well what?" the Doctor asked.

"I've told you my nightmares. Now you tell me yours?"

The last sentence came out more as a question than a statement, and again the Doctor realised Rose was worried about over-stepping the boundaries. He sighed, sitting forward and staring at his clasped hands for a few moments. Rose sat in silence, but the Doctor could feel her eyes on him. He'd not spoken to anyone about this for years. He'd told Wilf, of course, and Donna and Jack. But that was it. He'd avoided all the awkward questions about why he lived with an old man at college, had shrugged off any comments his staff passed. But this… This was different. The Doctor knew he couldn't back out, couldn't _not_ tell Rose. Like she'd said, she'd shared her nightmare was him, had trusted him enough to tell him. He couldn't betray her trust by not responding. With a deep breath, he met her gaze.

**~StormWolf10~**

"It was… When I was sixteen…"

The Doctor stopped and started and stopped again. He frowned. Took a deep breath. Started again.

"Today is the nineteen year anniversary of me losing my family."

Rose watched him carefully, studying his expression. And then she spoke.

"I'm sorry."

Her voice was soft, gentle, and the Doctor couldn't help the small, watery smile that tugged at his lips.

"It's been a long time," the Doctor agreed quietly, "but it doesn't get any easier. It never gets any easier."

The pair descended into silence again and, despite her better judgement, Rose reached for his hand. The Doctor let her take it, and he opened his mouth to speak again.

"I… I was sixteen," he began explaining, eyes looking anywhere but Rose, "it was the summer, and I was busy preparing for the start of college. My older brother, Andrew, was preparing to move to Scotland for university, and my little half-sister Emilia was excited about starting junior school. Then, of course, there were my cousins. Because we lived on a big country estate, my Uncles and cousins lived with us too, there was more than enough room. Two of my cousins, they were in their late teens, and decided the summer holidays should start with a bang. Physically, as it turned out; they'd bought fireworks, and had decided to set them off as a surprise, in the middle of July. But something…. Something went wrong. They were too close to the house; it went up in smoke and flames. I'd been pottering about in the shed, tinkering with an old lawnmower when it happened. My cousins had run back inside, it was about eleven at night, and they'd gone to wake my Dad and Uncles. And that's…"

The Doctor trailed off, taking a deep breath as tears welled in his eyes.

"That's the last I saw of them." He concluded quietly. "I still dream of it, that's what the nightmares are about. The house burning, everything red with flames. My brother yelling, my sister screaming, my cousins and Uncles shouting for me to get help. But… I didn't move. Just _stood_ there…"

There was a haunted look in the Doctor's eyes, his face had gone pale, his freckles stark against his skin.

"I'd… I wasn't particularly close to my father." The Doctor continued after a few moments. "I didn't get on with him. But my step-Mum, she was alright. And so were my Uncles. But I'd lost my Mum years before, when I was seven, and I'd never forgiven my Dad for how… Detached he'd been, how seemingly calm he'd been in the days and weeks after her death. Even at her funeral, my Dad didn't cry. Said that men don't cry. I hated him for it, for not showing emotion even after losing his wife. When the fire happened…. When he died, we still weren't… We weren't speaking, not really. I'd blocked him out ever since Mum had died, my Dad had called me a 'Mummy's boy', didn't seem to like the fact I'd always go to her when I'd had a nightmare. So when she died and he remained emotionless, I blocked him out. For nine years, we hardly spoke, only talking when it was absolutely necessary. And then I lost him. I never got the chance to apologise."

Rose squeezed his hand reassuringly at that point.

"What happened after that?" Rose asked carefully.

"I moved to London. Tried to transfer to a different college, but didn't have an address to give. I looked into getting a job, renting a flat, anything." The Doctor explained with a shrug, eyes still distant. "And then I bumped into Wilf. He's Donna's Granddad. At the time, he'd been looking to rent a room at his house, it was getting too big for just him, and he was in the letting agents' when he heard me get turned down. Next thing I knew, he was offering me his spare bedroom, free of charge until I managed to get a weekend job."

The Doctor trailed off, a smile tugging at his lips. Rose couldn't help the small smile that spread across her face, either.

"Lovely bloke, Wilf. I… It took a few weeks for me to explain to him why I was actually in London alone. He'd thought I'd run away from home, but hadn't pried, had wanted me to tell him in my own time. I started college, Business Studies, where I met Jack. Donna, of course, was at a different college doing Accountancy, but I met her when she came round with her mother Sylvia to see Wilf. They… They accepted me into their family, even when there were problems at college; Wilf ended up fostering me just so the college wouldn't try to move me into a care home. After I finished college, I learnt that I'd been left the remainder of the funds for the Gallifrey Estate, as the only living relative left. It wasn't loads, a lot of anything worth any money had been destroyed in the fire, but it was enough for me to buy this place and the land it stands on."

At that, the Doctor half-heartedly gestured around himself, and Rose nodded in understanding.

"I still own the Estate too, even though it's nothing more than charred rubble." He added softly.

There was another pregnant pause.

"Anyway," the Doctor started up again, tone forcefully cheery, "when I started this place up, I employed Donna. As a sort of thank-you. She could only get temp-jobs and such, and she hated it. So I employed her here, and Jack came by to help out every now and then. Wilf even helped out for a while, until we could afford to hire Mickey. And then of course, came Adam and Martha, and now you."

"I'm really sorry about your family." Rose spoke up after a few moments.

The Doctor sniffed, grin fading.

"Yeah, well. It's all in the past." He said.

"That's why Donna stormed out, wasn't it?" Rose asked softly. "Something to do with today."

After a pause, the Doctor reluctantly nodded.

"Yeah. Wilf… Wilf invited me round to his for dinner, invited Donna and Sylvia too. It was because he didn't want me alone tonight, but… But I thought I needed to be alone. Donna and I… We had a bit of an argument and she stormed out. It wasn't until after she'd gone that I realised that being alone was the last thing I wanted today. That's why I asked you to stay."

He paused, grimacing.

"I'm really sorry about this, I've kept you too long." The Doctor told Rose apologetically.

Rose, however, just shrugged.

"It doesn't matter. I'm a grown woman. Besides, my Mum's out tonight, won't be back till late." She assured him.

The Doctor nodded slowly, swallowing.

"Right, right." He murmured. Then: "Do you mind staying a little longer?"

Rose smiled softly.

"Not at all." She assured the Doctor gently.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: So, 12 has been announced. I'm… I'm admittedly uncertain, but he's growing on me with every passing minute; a brilliant actor, I'm just worried about the stories and scripts… **

Donna Noble shook her head at the sight in front of her. She was half-amused, half-annoyed at what she saw. After she'd stormed out of the bookshop the previous evening, she'd gone to her Granddad's, explaining the argument between her and the Doctor. Wilf had chuckled a little sadly, and nodded in understanding, telling Donna that "Sometimes I have days like that when I miss your Nan. Sometimes I just need to be alone. Give him time." So Donna had given the Doctor time. She'd given him a whole night, actually. She'd sat by her Granddad's phone, waiting for the inevitable phone call of apology from a somewhat contrite Doctor, who would then inform them he was on his way round. But the phone call had never come. And now Donna knew why. The Doctor had given her a spare key to his flat some time ago, when he kept barrelling down to the bookshop forgetting he needed keys to get back into the flat. When she'd arrived at the bookstore that morning, it was still locked up, so with a sigh, Donna had unlocked the door. There'd been no one downstairs and, presuming the Doctor was still wallowing in self-pity, had headed up to his flat to wake the lazy sod. And then Donna had been met with a sight she really hadn't expected. That had been nearly five minutes ago, and the normally sassy and fiery redhead was still gaping at the sofa the Doctor and Rose were sprawled on asleep. Part of her was telling her to leave, to not invade their privacy; part of her was annoyed that the Doctor had refused to spend the evening with her and Wilf, despite everything they'd done for him, and chosen to spend it with Rose; part of her was amused by how comfortable the pair of them looked together, holding hands in their sleep. For once, the Doctor looked… peaceful. For a moment, she wondered whether he had finally shared his nightmares with Rose, but Donna knew not to pry. She'd never seen the Doctor look that calm when he was sleeping, he was usually grimacing in pain, twisting and turning, crying out… Then again, Donna realised, she'd also never seen the Doctor that relaxed holding hands. For a brief stint in college, she'd known him to date a French exchange student by the name of Reinette- Donna had hated her; the girl, named after the mistress of King Louis XV, had been very stuck-up, almost as if she were as connected to the royal family as her namesake- and the Doctor had always looked tense and awkward when Reinette held his hand. Granted, he'd been a lanky seventeen year old at the time, but Donna had been fairly certain that the awkwardness of holding someone's hand had never left him. Until now. Now, he looked perfectly relaxed, like he was made to hold Rose's hand and she was made to hold his.

"'S rude to stare."

Donna jumped, wide-eyed. The Doctor was watching her with a small smirk, only one eye open.

"Yeah, well, you hadn't opened the shop, you numpty! We're due to open in half hour." Donna informed him quickly, finding her voice.

The Doctor blinked, yawned and frowned. Clearly still on the edges of sleep, he sat up slightly, wincing at the awkward angle his neck had been at.

"'S half eight?" he asked in confusion.

Donna nodded, arms folded.

"Yep. And you never phoned Gramps last night. I had to tell him you weren't coming."

The Doctor sighed at that.

"I'm really sorry about yesterday, Donna," he told her, eyes imploring her to understand and believe him "I didn't mean to yell. I was just… Upset. But that's no excuse."

Donna opened her mouth to respond with a sharp comment, but just then Rose stretched and yawned, eyes blinking open. Her eyes then went wide when she saw Donna stood there.

"Oh god," she muttered, sitting up and- reluctantly- letting go of the Doctor's hand to scramble for her phone "Mum's gonna kill me!"

The Doctor swallowed at that. He'd forgotten that Rose was so much younger than him, that she still lived with her Mum. She'd been through so much that he'd forgotten how young she was.

"I'm sorry, Rose-" he began quickly.

"Don't worry about it," Rose cut in quickly, already dialling her Mum's number "it's not the first time I've stayed out all night. The first time since _Jimmy_, yeah, but not the first time."

Donna looked a little confused at that, but one glance at the Doctor told her not to ask. There was silence for a few moments before Rose sighed, hanging up.

"No answer." She told her "Mum's probably forgotten to pay the phone bill again."

"So," Donna piped up instead, giving the Doctor a meaningful look "what did you two talk about last night?"

The Doctor swallowed again, his throat suddenly dry.

"Well," he began nervously.

"The Doctor told me his nightmares." Rose admitted "And I told him mine."

**~StormWolf10~**

"Rose!"

Rose looked up in shock as a middle-aged blonde woman burst into the shop, wide-eyed. Both the Doctor and Donna- who had come out of the office at the sound of the woman's panicked voice- frowned in confusion. The woman was dressed in worn jeans, trainers and a hoodie.

"Mum, what're you doing here?" Rose asked in confusion as her Mum darted behind the counter to hug her tight.

"What am I doing here?!" Jackie Tyler echoed, brow furrowing as she released her daughter to glare at her "You, young lady, never came home last night!"

There was a pause, in which Jackie looked her daughter over.

"And what are you _wearing_?" she added in confusion.

Rose blinked and automatically looked down at the t-shirt she was wearing. She'd borrowed the t-shirt from the Doctor, another of his sci-fi t-shirts that this time bore the image of the Starfleet Academy logo.

"Oh, I borrowed it from the Doctor." Rose told her Mum with a shrug "And I did try calling earlier, there was no answer. I'm really sorry, Mum, but we just lost track of time."

Jackie's eyes narrowed at the Doctor then, and the man took a step back, more than a little scared.

"And just _what_ were you doing with my daughter all night?" Jackie demanded.

"Talking?" the Doctor responded, making the statement sound more like a question.

Donna, meanwhile, was watching in amusement as the Doctor continued to try and back away from Jackie Tyler.

"Talkin'?" Jackie repeated "You expect me to believe you spent all night talkin'? What did you do, let her tell you all about Jimmy Stone an' what he put her through an' then offered to 'comfort' her?"

"Mum-" Rose broke in, cringing in embarrassment.

Jackie, however, appeared to be on a roll, and didn't even turn to look at her daughter.

"No, I-" the Doctor began, wide-eyed.

"I _know_ your type!" Jackie continued, poking the Doctor in the chest with a manicured fingernail "All comforting and reassuring and then you wait till my daughter trusts you an' you take advantage of her! Well, that ain't happening, _mate_!"

By now, the Doctor had pressed himself into the corner, shaking his head furiously as Donna sniggered and Rose had her head in her hands.

"I can assure you, nothing happened-" the Doctor managed to get out before Jackie was speaking again.

"I should hope not!" she declared angrily "Now, I don't know what you think you're playin' at, but when I got my Rose to get a job here, it wasn't so _you_ could get your leg over! She's only nineteen, 's inappropriate! What did you do last night? Get her drunk? Drug her? Any excuse to get her out of her clothes and into yours, hmm?"

By now, the Doctor was stuttering and Rose was bright red. Even Donna wasn't finding the inquisition particularly funny anymore.

"Mrs Tyler," Donna piped up, stepping forward "I can assure you that nothing happened between your daughter and the Doctor. They just… They found out that both of them had gone through particularly bad experiences, nightmares and such, and figured it best to share it with one another. Truth be told, I think it did the Doctor a world of good, I've known him nineteen years and I'd never seen him so relaxed as when I came into work this morning."

Jackie's gaze softened a little, and she bit her lip, glancing from the Doctor, to her daughter, to Donna.

"Oh." She managed after a few moments.

Then she straightened slightly, still looking a little awkward as she looked around the store. Then, she spoke.

"You don't seem to get many customers in here."

The Doctor, thrown by the sudden change in the conversation, merely blinked in reply.

**~StormWolf10~**

Jack was whistling a cheery tune as he, Mickey and the Doctor shifted the boxes around in the storage room. Reorganising the dark room was proving more difficult than thought as none of the boxes were labelled. Matters weren't helped by the fact the Doctor seemed oddly distracted, leaving Mickey and Jack to do most of the lifting.

"Doc?" Jack hinted, frowning slightly at his friend "You alright?"

The Doctor looked up quickly, nodding and forcing a smile.

"I think he's still stunned from earlier." Mickey chuckled.

Both Mickey and Jack had arrived at the bookstore just as Jackie Tyler was leaving, and Donna had been more than happy to fill them in on what they'd missed. Both men had found the whole thing hilarious, and Jack had complained that Donna should have filmed it. Rose had just been embarrassed, and sloped off to make everyone a mug of tea.

"I am not!" the Doctor insisted indignantly, frowning as Jack and Mickey snickered.

"Oh yeah?" Jack asked with a smirk and an arched eyebrow "If that's not the reason you're lost in your own little world, what is?"

The Doctor blushed and ducked his head.

"Come on, we need to finish shifting these boxes." He told them, only just managing to keep his voice level.

And with that, he disappeared into the darkness of the storage room.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Chapter 9, ladies and gentlemen! I have a feeling that this story is my most successful one to date now (topping Lungbarrow and We're All Stories in the End due to the ratio of follows/favourites/reviews per chapter)! I never realised it would be so popular… Anywho, on with this story, and I'm tempted to do a couple of oneshots of certain events in the store (i.e. Halloween, film premieres, etc.). Let me know what you think.**

"There's definitely something going on between them two." Jack murmured as he watched the Doctor and Rose walk away down the street.

Donna sighed, watching them go.

"Yeah, but they're both too thick to notice it." She responded to the American.

Jack smirked at that as Mickey nodded in agreement. Martha kept silent, watching the Doctor's and Rose's retreating backs as they vanished around the corner. Donna spared the younger woman a glance, offering her a sympathetic smile. When Martha had first begun working at the TARDIS Bookstore, she'd had a crush on the Doctor. He hadn't returned it, of course, and after several months, it eventually faded. But Martha still wasn't sure how to react to the idea of Rose liking him like that.

"Come on," Mickey announced to Martha, slinging an arm around her shoulders "why don't us two go get a drink together?"

Martha nodded, and they departed, leaving just Jack and Donna in the middle of the pavement. They watched them leave, bemused. It had been strange enough when the Doctor had insisted on walking Rose home, and now even weirder that Martha and Mickey were going to the pub together.

"Well," Jack announced, turning to look at Donna "just you and me, Ginger. How about you come back to mine?"

He flashed Donna a smile, but she merely responded with a roll of her eyes.

"In your dreams, Jack." Donna responded, beginning to walk away to the side street she'd parked her car down.

"Oh yes, every night!" Jack called after her cheekily, grinning.

Donna just shook her head and kept walking.

**~StormWolf10~**

"You didn't have to do this, you know." Rose told the Doctor in amusement.

"I know." He shrugged, hands in his pockets.

The Doctor was still dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, deeming the weather 'still too hot' for his usual layers of suit. He tugged at the neck of his t-shirt momentarily, awkward and unsure what else to add to the conversation. Luckily, Rose seemed to have it covered.

"I'll get the t-shirt back to you soon," Rose told him with a small smile, gesturing at the Starfleet Academy t-shirt she was still wearing.

The Doctor merely shrugged again, glancing down at her.

"No rush. I have others I can wear." He told her.

He decided not to add that there was a part of him that liked seeing her in his t-shirts. They continued the walk, the Doctor's feet carrying him aimlessly while Rose walked the familiar route with practiced ease.

"Doctor," Rose began again suddenly "why did you call yourself 'doctor'?"

The Doctor blinked, and looked over to her.

"Well," he began cautiously "remember me telling you it was a nickname that stuck?"

Rose nodded.

"I got it when I was at college." The Doctor explained "I'd only been there a few weeks; I'd started later than everyone else because they wouldn't accept me until I had a place to live. There was an accident in a science lab, I'd been working in a nearby room, and heard the shouting. Someone had spilt acid on themselves while the teacher was outside the room. I ran in and managed to help clean most of the acid off them and stop it from burning them too severely." He trailed off, shrugging. "Everyone acted like it was a big deal, but I was just trying to help. There was another incident, a while later we'd had some kids from a junior school come in to use the gym equipment and stuff. Jack volunteered to help out, only did it so he'd get out of class, but he put my name down too. Some little kid came off the trampoline, head-first, so I just grabbed his arm. He hit the ground pretty hard and dislocated his shoulder, but afterwards we were told by the PE teacher that if I hadn't have grabbed him, he'd have split his head open."

He could feel Rose's eyes on him, wide as she listened to his every word.

"After that, my classmates nicknamed me 'the Doctor', because of those two incidents. At first I wasn't sure about it, but then someone said something about it meaning I help people. And… And so I kept it." He concluded quietly.

The Doctor suddenly stopped walking, and he met Rose's gaze.

"Because that's the thing, Rose." He told her, voice low "I killed my family. I could have saved them but I didn't. I just stood there. So now…"

"So now, when you get the chance to help someone, you take it." Rose realised quietly.

The Doctor nodded, before lowering his gaze to the pavement. He fixed his gaze on a greying piece of chewing gum, trodden into the ground by the hundreds of Londoners that trampled over the pavement every hour. He wondered how many minutes it would take Rose to decide she wanted to resign. And then, the Doctor felt Rose slip her hand into his. Surprised, he looked up.

"I know you'll never forgive yourself for what happened at your home," Rose began, voice soft and eyes gentle "but you've got a new family now; me and Donna and Jack and Mickey and Martha. And you've helped all of us, _saved_ all of us. What happened was… Was unfortunate. But you can't change the past, and you can't keep blaming yourself."

With a deep breath, the Doctor nodded.

**~StormWolf10~**

The Doctor and Rose held hands all the way back to Rose's flat. The Doctor tried to cover up his shock at what passed as Rose's home, hoping she didn't sense how appalled he was at the litter strewn across the courtyard, the group of teenagers drinking and swearing in the corner of the estate, the bleak concrete towers that housed god-knows-how-many people who couldn't afford to move. Rose's nose wrinkled slightly as she looked up at the Doctor.

"Yeah, I know, 's not the nicest looking place." She told him "But it's home."

The Doctor just nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He allowed Rose to lead him through the council estate before she stopped outside a security door.

"Well," Rose piped up "this is me. I'd invite you up, but Mum's home. Do you wanna risk bein' yelled at again?"

She grinned cheekily as the Doctor paled.

"No, I'd better be getting back," he told her quickly, a slightly panicked expression on his face "I'll see you tomorrow?"

Rose grinned, her tongue between her teeth as she nodded.

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow then." She told him, already pulling open the heavy door.

The Doctor waved goodbye and watched as she took the stairs two at a time. A minute or so later, Rose disappeared from view only to appear along one of the walkways, hurrying along to her flat. She unlocked a front door and waved again to him before disappearing inside. Flat 48, the Doctor noted. 48 Bucknall House. Then, he rubbed at his eye, sighing as he began to walk away again. He hurried past the group of youths, silently cursing himself for being so afraid of the area; he was a thirty-five year old man, he should not be afraid of being out on his own. Shaking his head, he hurried out of the estate, trying to ignore the way his mind was refusing to let him forget the feel of Rose's hand in his, her smile, her laugh, how she'd blushed in embarrassment when her Mum had barged into the shop. Jack and Mickey had almost caught him earlier in the storage room, when he hadn't been able to get the image of Rose in his t-shirts out of his mind… With an annoyed groan, the Doctor gritted his teeth, trying to push Rose from his mind. He was a thirty-five year old man, Rose was nineteen. He shouldn't be thinking about her like that, the age-gap was too big, wasn't it? But even as he told himself that, the Doctor couldn't help the sneaking suspicion he was falling for Rose Tyler.

**~StormWolf10~**

Disappearing into her flat, Rose shook her head, a small frown on her face.

"Hiya, love," Jackie called from the front room "dinner's on. Spag bol alright?"

"Yeah," Rose called back, half-heartedly as she headed for her bedroom. "Give me a shout when it's done."

Shutting her bedroom door firmly behind her, Rose sighed, sinking to the ground. Her room was hot, stiflingly so- she hadn't been around that morning to open her bedroom window, and Jackie must have forgotten- but she couldn't be bothered to get up and open it. Toeing her trainers off and kicking them unceremoniously across the room, Rose grimaced at her bedroom. Still painted hot-pink, the room suddenly felt childish and cluttered. Teddy bears and soft toys were scatted across the bed and the floor, clothes dumped in piles, not making it to the washing basket. Her vanity was cluttered with half-used tubes and bottles and containers of makeup, her bed was rumpled and unmade. Above her bed, half-scratched-off butterfly stickers still remained from when she was nine, only partially covered by the photos of her and her friends in their teenage years. Rose thought back to the Doctor's room; plain, simple, tidy. The complete opposite of her brightly-painted, cluttered bedroom. She was nineteen, she qualified as an adult, and yet her bedroom still looked like that of a child. Rose wrinkled her nose, not wanting to know what the Doctor would think if he saw her room. He'd already looked disgusted by the estate, he'd probably want nothing to do with her if he saw her bedroom. He'd probably realise how young and childish she seemed, would lose interest in her. Or… Rose's eyes widened. The Doctor had said it himself earlier, he helped people. Maybe that's the only reason he continued to employ her, had let her tell him all about Jimmy Stone. He saw her as a child that needed help. They were just friends, nothing more. But Rose had known since the first day she'd met the Doctor, that she was attracted to him. It was odd, she'd barely known him at all until recently, but she'd seemed to have latched on to him. Rose shuddered. It made her sound clingy, desperate, like a schoolgirl going after her hot math teacher. And maybe that's all she was, Rose realised, just a schoolgirl with a crush. Even though it seemed so much more than a crush, so much stronger, much more than with Jimmy… But that was the problem, wasn't it? Rose only had one previous relationship to compare it to, and that… Well, that hadn't been the ideal relationship. She'd had boyfriends at senior school. Well, one boyfriend. And it had lasted three weeks. None of this exactly filled Rose with confidence, and she couldn't tell whether what she was feeling was love or infatuation. But either way, she decided, the Doctor wouldn't feel the same way. There were years between her and the Doctor, he probably thought her young and foolish, he was just indulging her. He probably felt nothing for her. She was being stupid. Eyes shutting against the bitter tears that threatened to fall, Rose's head fell back against the door.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Another chapter! I've figured out this story will probably have no more than 15 chapters, but I will be doing oneshots after that. :)**

Donna Noble frowned as Rose stumbled through the door. The girl was late, by almost half an hour, and she was about to give her a piece of her mind when she instead gaped. Rose flashed Donna a nervous smile, heading past the counter to hang her jacket and bag up in the office. When she returned, Donna was still gaping.

"You… You cut your hair!" Donna finally managed to gasp out, wide-eyed.

Rose blinked, and fingered the ends of her blonde hair. Yesterday, when Donna had watched Rose walk away with the Doctor, her hair had been long, reaching to the middle of her back, but now it just about brushed her shoulders.

"Oh. Yeah." Rose shrugged, feigning indifference "Mum cut it for me last night. She's a mobile hairdresser. Thought it was time for a change."

Donna's eyes narrowed at that, but didn't say anything, merely nodded. Just then, there was the sound of footsteps on stairs, and moments later, the Doctor appeared in the office doorway, having just come down from his flat. He was clutching an Astronomy book in his hand, a grin on his face as he examined the back of the book.

"Here it is, Donna. Your Granddad will love this-"

The Doctor trailed off, stopping dead as he looked up and caught sight of Rose. He was partially aware of Donna plucking the book from his hands, but his eyes didn't leave Rose.

"You've cut your hair." He told her, voice filled with disbelief.

"Yeah, thought it was time for a change." Rose responded, distracted as Mickey sloped through the front door muttering an apology.

**~StormWolf10~**

That evening, Rose sat in her room, thinking hard. The Doctor had been shocked by her shorter hair, but he hadn't said he'd liked it. Rose had been hoping he'd note how it made her look more grown up, less like a child, but he'd seemed more appalled than pleased. That had very silently frustrated Rose, she was doing her best to show the Doctor just how grown up she could be, but all she seemed to do was arouse Donna's suspicions. Maybe it was her clothes, Rose decided. She could do with getting some better clothes. But better clothes meant spending money. Money she and her Mum just didn't have. Yes, Rose was working now, but Jackie's work had dwindled somewhat, and all their earnings was going on bills and food. Rose's clothes were fine, they did their job, she didn't _need_ new clothes. Except that she did, if she was going to impress the Doctor. Then, having a sudden burst of inspiration, Rose grabbed her mobile, dialling a number she knew well.

"Shareen? Yeah, I need a favour," Rose announced to the person on the other end of the phone "can I come over?"

**~StormWolf10~**

"Oh god, I can't tell you how relieved I'll be to have the day off tomorrow!" Donna sighed, slouched on a chair.

"You know, if you wanted a day off, I'd always cover you." Jack told her with a smirk and a wink.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, reaching over to hit his friend round the back of the head.

"How do you always manage to make everything you say dirty?" the Doctor groused.

"It's a talent." Jack responded with a grin.

"What's a talent?" Rose asked, stepping into the store.

She was already halfway out of her jacket, and the Doctor froze. For the second time in as many days, Rose had managed to render the man speechless. Jack and Donna shared a knowing glance behind the Doctor's back.

"Been shopping?" Donna asked the younger woman knowingly.

Rose sniffed.

"My friend had some stuff she didn't wear anymore, so she gave it to me." Rose shrugged.

Donna raised an eyebrow. She wasn't daft, she knew there was no way Rose's friend had been throwing those clothes out; they were virtually brand new. The Doctor was still gaping at her, taking in the black leather jacket now in her arms, the tight-fitting baby blue t-shirt, the black skinny jeans. And then Rose was walking past him to the office, disappearing from view, and the Doctor flushed as he saw both Donna and Jack smirking at him.

"What?" he asked, trying to ignore how high his voice sounded "I didn't say anything."

"Exactly." Jack smirked back.

The Doctor glared at Jack, who merely shrugged and grinned, and as Donna began chuckling she excused herself to the office. Rose took Donna's seat behind the till, smiling at the Doctor as she slid onto the stool, and the Doctor was suddenly very much aware he couldn't take his eyes off her. Matters weren't helped when Rose did that smile, with her tongue between her teeth. Blinking, the Doctor realised it was going to be a very long day.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Well?" Martha asked quietly with a grin, leaning over Donna's desk.

Donna blinked, frowning at the other woman.

"Well what?" she asked in confusion.

"The Doctor and Rose." Martha replied "Have they… You know?"

Donna smirked.

"I don't think those two dumbos have realised they're both on the same page." Donna replied grumpily. "The Doctor can't stop staring and Rose has 'been given' a lot of tight clothes by a friend. In other words, the Doctor's been checking Rose out in skin-tight clothes and they both think the other isn't interested."

"Should we point it out to them?" Mickey asked from his position perched on top of a filing cabinet. There was no technology failing that day, so Mickey didn't have much to do other than make tea and occasionally man the till.

Martha and Donna shook their heads quickly.

"They need to work it out themselves." Martha responded.

"Yeah, and by the time that happens there'll be a blue moon." Donna groused bitterly.

"We could ask Jack?" Mickey suggested. "He'd know what to do."

"Possibly," Donna conceded "but he might go a little overboard."

The trio descended into silence, thinking hard for a few minutes. And then, a slow grin spread across Martha's face.

"What about a Lover's Trap?" Martha suggested excitedly.

"You mean like in 'Much Ado About Nothing'?" Donna asked, cottoning on.

Martha nodded, but Mickey just got confused.

"I'm sorry?" he asked.

"In Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing', Don Pedro and Hero successfully convince Benedick that Beatrice is in love with him, and vice versa. As the play progresses, they begin to fall in love as, despite being enemies at first, they believe the other is in love with them and agree to go along with it." Donna explained quickly.

"So… We're gonna trick the Doctor and Rose?" Mickey asked.

"Well, not really." Donna shrugged "They already love each other. We're just making sure they know it. And then, once that's done, we'll get them together somehow."

"I'll go get Jack and tell him!" Martha told them, hurrying out of the office.

Mickey sighed.

"This is only going to end in tears." He muttered under his breath.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: New chapter! The trap is set, and now it's time to see if the Doctor and Rose will be caught…**

After their Sunday off, Donna, Jack, Mickey and Martha got their plan started. Mickey had been taken on full-time since Adam's departure, so he and Jack dealt with the Doctor while Martha and Donna worked on Rose. Of course, Martha wasn't in until the afternoon, so the boys started with the Doctor first.

"I notice Rose has been acting… different , recently." Jack announced, watching as the Doctor restocked the shelves.

Donna had dragged Rose out for the morning to look into getting decorations for Halloween for the shop. It was barely even the beginning of September, but Donna had insisted on it so that Mickey and Jack would be alone with the Doctor.

"Yeah?" the Doctor asked, feigning indifference "Hadn't really noticed."

Mickey snorted at that, and both Jack and the Doctor shot him a glare.

"What?" Mickey asked with a smirk, not caring that Jack had told him he'd do the talking "We've all seen you checking her out. When she got wet after the storm, on Friday when she had those new clothes on. You walked her home last Wednesday."

The Doctor blushed at that, and turned back to the bookshelf, continuing with his task of stocking the shelves.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Jack's eyebrow arched at that.

"You really expect me to believe that, Doc?" Jack asked, voice tinged with amusement "I've known you nineteen years."

"Exactly!" the Doctor yelled suddenly, furiously, as he spun round to face Jack and Mickey "Exactly! We've known each other nineteen years, Jack! Rose is nineteen! That means we were already at college before she'd even been born! And every rational part of me is telling me, _screaming_ at me that _that_ is why I can't have her, that I'm too old for her, that I shouldn't even be _looking_."

Breathing heavily, the Doctor looked away for a few moments. Jack and Mickey had been stunned into silence, gaping. They had expected to have to pry a bit more.

"I… She deserves better than a man who killed his family." The Doctor concluded bitterly.

"You are the best man I know, Doctor," Jack told his best friend calmly, stepping forward.

The Doctor snorted at that, still staring at the floor.

"She's nineteen, Jack. I'm thirty-five. I'm too old for her. And yet… And yet I'm falling for her." The Doctor sighed, looking up to meet Jack's eyes "What do I do?"

**~StormWolf10~**

The Doctor frowned, uncertain how to react to what Jack and Mickey had just told him.

"Hold on, hold on," he said eventually, brow still furrowed "are you telling me that you guys think Rose has feelings for me?"

Both Jack and Mickey nodded in unison.

"Why would you think that?" the Doctor continued, still confused.

Mickey shrugged.

"Well, Donna and Martha seem pretty certain." Mickey told him "I dunno, boss, Rose _has_ been acting weird recently. I mean, she cut her hair, changed her clothes… I know girls be unpredictable at the best of times, but even Donna seemed shocked by that."

"And what does Rose cutting her hair have to do with her feelings for me?" the Doctor asked, perplexed.

"Donna wondered whether it's because of the age gap." Jack chipped in "She wondered if Rose was trying to make herself look older."

"Yeah," Mickey added "and she must be mad about you if she's doing that. No woman would willingly make herself look _older_."

The Doctor still looked unconvinced, but was beginning to warm to the idea.

"Really?" he asked after a few moments. "Do you really think Rose likes me?"

"Doctor," Jack sighed "of course she likes you. She's worn your t-shirts more than once, she's stayed over, she's told you about her ex… And I know you love her, because I know you told her about your family."

The Doctor blinked. He hadn't thought of it like that. He'd trusted Rose enough to tell her about his nightmares and she'd trusted him enough to tell him hers. That took a really deep connection, best friends or… Or more.

"Look," Jack continued after a few moments "all we're saying is, Rose really, _really_ likes you. And we know you've fallen for her too. So, what are you going to do about it?"


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: In which it's Rose's turn to fall into the trap…. Just three more chapters after this, guys (I don't wanna let it go!). Also, figured here would be as best a place as any to say it: I'm looking for a fictennis partner, preferably AU 10/Rose stuff. Ideally, anyone interested should have a Tumblr account, but if not, must be willing to do it over email. PM me or drop a review if you're interested :) **

Rose blinked. She had a suspicious feeling about what was about to happen. Both Martha and Donna had dragged her into the office, shutting the door firmly behind them, insisting the men could hold the fort in the shop.

"What's this about?" Rose asked in confusion.

"What makes you think this is about anything?" Martha asked, feigning innocence.

Rose was still suspicious, and Donna's permanent grin wasn't helping either.

"Right," she responded slowly, before adding "I'm just gonna go to the loo."

Rose disappeared into the toilet, shutting and locking the door behind her, not noticing the grins spreading across Martha's and Donna's faces.

"Now?" Mouthed Martha.

Donna nodded, grinning.

"I can't believe the Doctor admitted to Jack the other day about his feelings for Rose," Martha announced, making sure to speak loud enough for Rose to hear but not too loud as to arouse suspicion.

"Well, he _was_ pretty drunk." Donna responded with a grin.

"Yeah, but you know what the Doctor can be like; I never expected him to actually say that he loved her!" Martha continued.

"Well, there comes a time for everything." Donna declared happily "Although I never thought he'd get a girlfriend while wearing superhero t-shirts and running a sci-fi bookshop!"

As Martha and Donna continued their talking, Rose was in the toilet, gaping at what she was hearing. This had to be some kind of joke, right? There was no way the Doctor was in love with _her_. She was nowhere near good enough for him, she hadn't gotten very good GCSE results, had only taken a college course in hair and beauty (and hated it). She was young, childish. The Doctor had only given her a job because he felt sorry for her. Why would he love her?

But Martha and Donna seemed so certain, so sure of what they were saying. There was no way they could know about her feelings for the Doctor, and they must have not realised she could hear them. They were chattering away about how the Doctor had told Jack that he'd developed feelings for Rose her first day in the store, that he hadn't been able to get her out of his head… Rose suddenly became aware that she had to leave the cramped toilet soon, and so made a big, loud deal about washing her hands and unlocking the door. When she got back outside, Donna and Martha were sat there, smiling innocently, oblivious that Rose had heard them.

"So, Rose, anything new in _your_ life?" Donna asked conversationally.

**~StormWolf10~**

She still wasn't entirely sure how it had happened, but at some point during their time locked in the office with the men manning the shop, Rose had spilled all to Martha and Donna. She told them of how she'd had feelings for the Doctor since day one, how she'd been certain he wouldn't like her because of how childish she appeared, about how she'd cut her hair and borrowed her friend Shareen's clothes to appear older. Donna and Martha had listened in silence, nodding every now and then, their expressions poker straight. Finally, when Rose had finished- a little breathless and teary- Donna took a deep breath.

"Why don't you tell him how you feel?" she suggested.

Rose scoffed, near hysterics.

"Yeah, because that'll go down well! 'Hi, Doctor, I know you're my boss, but I think I'm in love with you. I'm not entirely sure though, I've never been in love before.'"

Martha sighed.

"Rose, you won't know his answer until you ask." She pointed out to the younger woman gently.

Rose shook her head vehemently.

"No. I can't."

And with that, she was on her feet and running out the office, through the shop and onto the street.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: New chapter! The story is all typed up now, ready to be uploaded :)**

"So _now_ are we going with my idea of locking them up?" Mickey asked exasperatedly.

That had been Mickey's idea from the get-go, but both Martha and Donna had refused. Now, however, they were beginning to wonder if it was the only way.

"Where would we lock them up though?" Martha asked worriedly.

"The storage room?" Jack suggested "There's a light down there, they won't be in the dark. But also, they won't be able to get out."

Donna nodded.

"Looks like that'll be our only option." Donna told them.

It was the day after Rose had ran out, and she'd sloped into work that morning, quiet and bleary-eyed, and they were fairly certain she'd spent the night sobbing. The Doctor had been immediately concerned, but Rose had shook him off, refusing to let him- or anyone else- touch her.

"Right," Jack sighed, rubbing his hands together "you get Rose down there, I'll get the Doctor."

**~StormWolf10~**

The store wasn't that big that they could lose sight of each other. That made getting the Doctor and Rose into the storage room without either of them noticing the other rather difficult. But Jack was inventive and Donna was insistent, and soon, Rose found herself being hurried down the ladder to the storage room.

"I don't see why the guys can't shift this stuff-" Rose trailed off as she saw the Doctor stood in the middle of the storage room.

They both just stared at each other, wide-eyed and confused.

"What's going on?" they asked in unison, even as Jack and Donna moved to the ladder.

"You two can come out once you've admitted your feelings to one another." Donna told them sternly, already making her way up the ladder.

"But it's in the middle of the day! The shop's still open! Donna, I have a business to run!" the Doctor argued, hurrying over to the ladder.

But Jack was already shutting the hatch.

"We'll keep the shop going!" he yelled cheerily as he locked the hatch.

The Doctor and Rose stared at the hatch for a few moments, still gaping about what had happened. After a minute or two, however, Rose found her voice.

"What did them mean 'admit our feelings'?" she asked shakily.

The Doctor shrugged, not meeting her gaze.

"I don't know what they're talking about. Do you have anything you want to tell me?" he asked.

Rose shook her head mutely and the Doctor nodded slowly.

"At least we've got a light down here." He murmured, before bounding over to a cardboard box.

The Doctor was back in his usual pinstripe suits now that the summer was over, and he fished inside the pocket for a pair of reading glasses. Then, plucking a comic out of the cardboard box, he took a seat on the damp floor and began flicking through it.

"What are you doing?!" Rose asked incredulously.

"Reading." The Doctor responded.

"But… They've locked us in here!" Rose pointed out, wide-eyed.

"Yeah, but they'll let us out soon. They're just being stupid." The Doctor told her calmly.

Rose frowned slightly, and plonked herself on the floor, arms folded across her chest.

**~StormWolf10~**

"What're you reading?"

The Doctor looked up to see Rose stood next to him, hands rubbing at her arms. The Doctor gestured for her to sit down beside him. She slid to the floor, peering at his graphic novel.

"Star Trek." The Doctor responded, shifting the book so she could look at it.

It wasn't until Rose's arm was pressed up against his that the Doctor realised just how chilled she was. The storage room was damp and chilly, and Rose was only in a t-shirt. Shifting the graphic novel into Rose's lap, the Doctor began slipping his suit jacket off, and wrapped it round her shoulders. Rose looked perplexed, and the Doctor smiled.

"You felt a little chilly." He told her.

"Oh. Thanks." She told him, a small shy smile forming on her lips.

The pair descended into silence again for a few moments.

"How long have we been down here?" Rose asked suddenly.

"Oh, god knows." The Doctor sighed.

There was another pause. And then they both spoke at the same time.

"There's something I have to tell you."

The Doctor and Rose stared at each other, giggling slightly before sobering.

"You first." The Doctor told her, smile fading.

"No, you first." Rose responded nervously, tugging at his suit jacket, pulling it closer to her body.

The Doctor took a deep breath, wide-eyed.

"Jack and Mickey told me you might have feelings for me." He said in a rush.

Rose blushed immediately and ducked her head.

"Rose?" the Doctor prompted, nervous "Are you alright?"

No response.

"Is it true?" he prompted again.

Rose, very reluctantly, nodded slowly. Jack and Mickey had been right. He suddenly couldn't breathe…

"I heard Martha and Donna sayin' you told Jack you… You loved me." Rose announced quickly, head shooting up to look him in the eyes.

"What?!" the Doctor demanded, wide-eyed.

"Is it not true?" Rose asked quietly, brow furrowing.

"No! No! I never told them that!" the Doctor insisted, wide-eyed.

"Right." Rose nodded slowly.

And then she was on her feet, walking away, and the Doctor realised that there'd been a huge misunderstanding. He was on his feet immediately, following Rose. As he got closer, he realised she was crying.

"Rose," he sighed, hand reaching for her shoulder "that… that came out wrong."

"They lied to me." Rose stated through her tears, refusing to face him.

"Well, yes. I didn't say that to Jack. But I did say I was falling for you. And that's true. I am. I did. I fell for you a long time ago, Rose Tyler; I tried to stop myself, but I couldn't help it. I couldn't stop thinking about you. I… I think I love you, Rose, and I shouldn't, but I do."

**~StormWolf10~**

"Mickey and I are going to head out," Martha announced happily to Jack and Donna "we're going out for dinner."

"Ooh, get you!" Donna crowed happily "Is there romance in the air?"

Martha blushed, and Mickey look awkward, but they both looked happy.

"Never mind," Donna brushed off quickly "you two head out and have a great night. We'll text you, let you know what happened."

Martha and Mickey headed out soon after, leaving just Jack and Donna. The hours were passing, and Donna sighed.

"I wish I had a date once in a while." She murmured.

"Well, I keep asking, but you always turn me down!" Jack responded.

Donna smirked. And then, a glance at Jack told her that he was- for once- being deadly serious.

"We could, you know." Jack continued calmly.

Donna thought for a few moments, then nodded.

"Yeah, ok." She smiled "Just let me get my coat."

Barely five minutes later, they were out the door, locking the shop behind them.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Chapter fourteen :) Just one more chapter left after this, but I'm doing a few oneshots/mini fics. If there is a certain scene you'd like to see, let me know!**

The Doctor felt Rose's lips curl into a smile beneath his. He was kissing her, he realised, he was actually really kissing Rose Tyler. All those months of trying not to look as her tongue peeked out between her teeth, trying not to notice the cheeky smiles she'd give him, or how she looked so beautiful when she laughed… He was too old for her, of that he was certain, but right now he didn't care. Because he was kissing Rose Tyler. But then she was pulling away from him, albeit reluctantly. She still had a grin on her face, and her face was flushed.

"You think the others will let us out now?" she asked nervously. "Not that I don't love being down here with you, but it's gettin' a bit chilly."

The Doctor couldn't fault her logic there. They'd had a feeling the storage room had some damp somewhere, but he'd never bothered to look for it. As the night wore on, it would get progressively colder, and neither he nor Rose would want to be down there when that happened. With a grin, the Doctor bounded over to the ladder, scaling it and banging on the hatch.

"Donna? Jack? We've… We've talked." He yelled through the wood. "We've, uh, told each other everything."

No reply.

"I told Rose I loved her."

Still no reply.

"And she told me she loves me."

Silence. The Doctor frowned to himself.

"Donna?" he called, a little concerned now.

No response. And it was then that the Doctor realised what had most likely happened. Taking a deep breath, he crossed to where Rose was stood, brow furrowed.

"Rose," he began cautiously, "I don't want you to panic, but I think Jack and Donna have forgotten we're in here."

"And that means..?" Rose prompted, fearing the answer.

"I think they've gone home for the night." The Doctor concluded.

Rose gaped, her mouth opening and shutting several times as she attempted to form words.

"Right," she managed to get out eventually, "and when will we get out of here then?"

"Ooh, tomorrow morning?" the Doctor responded.

"Can't we phone them?" Rose asked in annoyance.

"No signal down here." The Doctor shook his head.

With a sigh, Rose flopped down with her back to some boxes.

"Well, then. What do we do to pass the time?" she asked slowly.

The Doctor grinned.

**~StormWolf10~**

Donna's mobile phone chirped. Donna herself groaned, yawned and glared at the offending object, pushing herself into a sitting position. She'd been half-sitting, half-laying on the sofa with Jack, her hair was a complete mess, a tangle of wild ginger, and she hurriedly smoothed it out of her eyes as she reached for her phone. Seeing it was Martha, Donna all but growled, startling Jack, who was on the sofa beside her, watching in confusion.

"This had better be good, Martha." Donna sighed as she answered the call.

"Well, I was hoping it would be _you_ who could tell me if it was good or not." Martha responded from the other end of the line.

"What do you mean?" Donna asked, tired and confused. It was little past one in the morning, and while no funny business had gone on between her and Jack, they'd both consumed a lot of wine.

"The Doctor and Rose?" Martha prompted. "You never text me to let you know if the plan worked. Me and Mickey are dying to know."

Donna gaped, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. She could hear Martha calling her name down the phone, confused about the lack of response. It was only when Jack called her name that Donna snapped out of the trance.

"Donna?" he prompted, his usually cheeky, cheery American accent tinged with concern.

"We forgot about the Doctor and Rose." She murmured to the American, wide-eyed.

Almost immediately, Jack's eyes widened.

"Donna? Donna, are you still there?" Martha called down the phone.

"Yeah, Martha, look, I'll have to call you back." Donna explained hurriedly before hanging up on the protesting woman.

Jack was already on his feet, shoes on and grabbing his keys. Donna was not far behind him, and soon they were hurrying out into the chilly September air to Jack's car.

**~StormWolf10~**

Donna all but burst into the TARDIS Bookstore, muttering under her breath about how the Doctor was going to kill her. Jack followed close behind, shutting the door behind him before following Donna to the office. The filing cabinet they'd dragged over the hatch was still there, and all appeared to be silent below. Taking a deep breath, Jack hauled the cabinet out of the way, and Donna yanked the hatch up.

"Doctor? Rose?" Donna called cautiously, not sure what they were up to down there, if they were even speaking.

"Yeah?" the Doctor's voice called back. He sounded breathless.

Jack smirked.

"We could, uh, lock you back down there if there's something you need to finish up, Doc," Jack suggested, but even as he spoke, Donna was dragging him down the stairs.

Jack was about to protest that it might not be a very good idea, before he stopped, staring.

"We figured we'd finish organising all the boxes down here." The Doctor told them upon seeing their incredulous expressions. "We didn't finish the other day."

"You two were down here… _Filing_?!" Donna asked incredulously.

Rose looked up, nodding and smiling.

"Yeah, well, we had to do something." She shrugged.

"But… But you were meant to talk!" Jack protested. "Tell each other how you feel!"

"Oh, we did that too," the Doctor replied, back to shifting boxes again, "went quite well, actually."

"When you two say talked..?" Donna began, eyes narrowing.

"We quickly established that what I'd overheard you and Martha saying about the Doctor telling Jack he loved me was a lie." Rose replied, her tone suddenly icy cool.

Donna winced at that.

"We _are_ sorry, Rose, but we just thought you needed a… Needed a push." Donna told her quietly.

"Well, it's very lucky for you guys then that you got it right, isn't it?" the Doctor told them, straightening up again.

"You mean… You two did tell each other how you feel? Completely?" Jack asked, brow furrowed.

"Yes!" the Doctor sighed "We did say that!"

"Well yeah, but you two were acting like such a pair of dumbos that we wondered if you'd actually cottoned on, even when we locked you up." Donna shrugged.

"Oh yes," the Doctor remembered suddenly, one arm round Rose's shoulders, "please _never_ lock us in the storage room again. It's pretty damp down here, I had to lend Rose my jacket."

Donna and Jack blinked, only then realising Rose was wearing the Doctor's pinstripe jacket. They both nodded, smiling slightly.

"So," the Doctor continued with a grin, "how _did_ you two suddenly forget we were down here? And why did you arrive together?"

Donna's and Jack's smiles slipped.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: So this is it, readers. You and me, on the last page. *Stops channelling Amy from **_**The Angels Take Manhattan**_*** Anywho, this means we're finally at the end of this wonderful little story… I'll be sad to see it go, but I didn't want to let it drag on. As I said in the previous chapter's AN, I'm doing oneshots and mini-fics, so if there is something you'd like to see (i.e. the Doctor's and Rose's first date, Jack trying to flirt with customers, etc.), let me know :)**

"I can't believe they forgot you were down there!" Martha laughed the next day.

The entire evening's events had been relayed to Mickey that morning, who'd text Martha the details while she was at her lecture. The Doctor and Rose had even spilled all about the kiss, and that they were going to give a relationship a go.

"Yeah well, Jack can be very persuasive. Apparently he managed to get Donna back to his for dinner and wine." Rose responded with a grin.

"And anything else?" Martha asked with a smirk.

"It's Jack, it's everything else!" Rose laughed.

Donna grumbled from her position behind the till, causing Rose and Martha to turn and look at her.

"Oh, don't be like that, Donna! We're only kidding!" Rose told the redhead "Besides, you and Jack make a great couple."

"Not as good a pair as you and the Doctor," Donna responded quickly "even if you _are_ a pair of dumbos."

Martha nodded in agreement and Rose rolled her eyes.

"At least the plan worked, though," Mickey announced, crawling out from beneath one of the computer stations and helping himself to a chocolate biscuit from the plate Donna had left beside the till.

"Yeah, once Jack and Donna remembered to come and let us out!" Rose groused, although she was smiling.

"Hey!" Jack complained, appearing from the office "We've apologised several times now!"

"Yeah, and you need to apologise a few more." The Doctor responded, following Jack out of the office.

Nobody missed how he went straight to Rose, one arm around her waist as they smiled at each other shyly.

"Blimey," Mickey muttered "even Martha and I aren't that bad and it's taken me two years to ask her out!"

Everyone blinked and turned to stare at Martha and Mickey.

"You two are dating?" Donna asked "Like, actually properly dating?"

"Well, yeah. I did say Mickey was taking me out for a meal. You teased us!" Martha reminded Donna in confusion.

"Yeah, but we didn't think it was a _date_ date!" Donna responded exasperatedly.

"Anyway," the Doctor announced, still frowning "does this genuinely mean that all of us are seeing someone? All of us are in a relationship? Because, my god, we've worked together for years and the longest relationship one of us had was when Jack kept winking at that Ianto guy."

"Ooh, the one from the Pizza delivery place?" Donna asked.

"That's the one," the Doctor nodded.

"Ah," Jack sighed fondly "Ianto. Lovely guy. Always bought food."

"He was delivering your pizza!" Martha pointed out incredulously.

"Exactly!" Jack smirked "He had a nice smile too. Bit expensive though, I had to pay him after every visit…"

"Yes," the Doctor sighed, repeated Martha's words from just a few moments before "because he was delivering your _pizza_."

"We haven't ordered from Torchwood Pizzas for a while, have we?" Jack mused.

"No, because every time we did you flirted with the delivery boy!" Mickey complained.

As the men continued arguing, the girls rolled their eyes and headed into the office to make some tea.

**~StormWolf10~**

The Doctor took a deep breath, staring up the tower block in front of him. He felt someone squeeze his hand, and he looked down to see Rose smiling reassuringly at him.

"It'll be fine." She assured him gently.

The Doctor forced a smile back, and together they stepped inside, heading up the stairs. They'd finished work for the day, and the Doctor had insisted on walking Rose home to apologise to Jackie about how her daughter hadn't made it home last night (he was going to make it clear that was Jack's doing and not his) and also to explain their newfound relationship. They ascended the stairs in silence, the Doctor clutching Rose's hand tight, and soon he found himself outside flat 48. Rose unlocked the door and led him inside, calling out to Jackie as she did so.

"I'm home, Mum. An' the Doctor's with me."

"You coulda told me!" Jackie's indignant voice came back from the front room "First you don't come home last night an' now you're bringing guests!"

Rose cringed, and mouthed an apology to the Doctor before leading him to the sitting room. Within minutes, the Doctor had been forced on to the tattered sofa, a mug of tea pushed into his hands and Rose sat beside him as she explained what had happened the previous night to Jackie. Once the story was finished, Jackie looked at the Doctor with an arched eyebrow, looking him up and down. And then she spoke.

"I suppose you'll do."

**~StormWolf10~**

Later that evening, the Doctor was being ushered to the door by a tired but surprisingly relaxed Jackie. As she saw him out, she grabbed his arm, stopping him from walking away. Rose was in the kitchen, doing the washing up, well out of earshot.

"Thank you, Doctor." Jackie told him quietly. "I've not seen my Rose so happy in a long time. You've helped her a lot just being there for her."

The Doctor, however, shook her head.

"No Jackie," the Doctor responded "I haven't helped her. She's helped me. And I will never, ever forget that."

"You're always welcome here, you know, Doctor." Jackie told him with a small smile "You're family now."

With one last smile, Jackie let the Doctor go, and he hurried for the stairs. A smile spread across his face. A warm, cheerful smile. Because, for the first time in a long time, the Doctor had a family.


End file.
